August 19, 2005
Friday

Israel withdraws from Gaza

Tens of thousands of Israeli army troops served eviction notices on settlers and oversaw evacuations of communities in Gaza and part of the West Bank. Soldiers had to drag some sobbing settlers out of their homes. On the West Bank, an Israeli took a gun from a security guard and opened fire, killing three Palestinians and wounding two. The exodus marked the first time since Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 that it relinquished Jewish settlements to Arab control. After a series of violent confrontations, the situation calmed somewhat toward the end of the week.

Rockets fired at U.S. ship

Rockets were fired from Jordan, one just missing a U.S. Navy ship that was docked. No U.S. sailors or Marines were injured in the attack by militants. Authorities said the rockets were fired from a warehouse in the port of Aqaba.

Iraq delays new constitution

In a disappointment to President Bush, Iraqi leaders missed the deadline for drafting a new constitution and gave themselves another week to do it. They said they were confident they could settle their differences, including the role of Islam and the power of regional governments. The Bush administration tried to cast the delay as something other than a setback. In a statement, Bush applauded the "heroic efforts" by Iraqi drafters and "substantial progress" on preparing a constitution.

Car bombs kill 43

Three car bombings near a crowded bus station in Baghdad killed at least 43 and injured another 88, slowing one of Iraq's primary transportation systems to a standstill.

Pope visits synagogue

During a trip to Cologne in his native Germany, Pope Benedict XVI became the second pontiff to visit a synagogue. He also prayed before a Holocaust memorial and expressed concern about a rise in anti-Semitism. Benedict grew up in Nazi Germany. His predecessor, John Paul II, was the first pope to visit a synagogue, in Rome in 1986.

Coretta Scott King suffers stroke, heart attack

Coretta Scott King, the 78-year-old widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King, is mostly paralyzed on her right side and faces a long recovery from a stroke and a heart attack. Her ability to speak has been affected.

Sheehan forced back to California

Cindy Sheehan, who has been staging a vigil outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch as she sought an audience with the commander in chief to discuss the death of her son, Casey, in Iraq, returned to California on Thursday to tend to her mother, who had suffered a stroke. On Wednesday, more than 1,500 candlelight vigils were held across the country in support of Sheehan.

Killer gets 10 life terms

Dennis Rader, 60, the so-called BTK killer, was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms for torturing and killing 10 people in the Wichita, Kan., area over a period of 17 years.

Airline crashes kill 281

A Cypriot airliner mysteriously plunged 34,000 feet into the mountains north of Athens, killing 121 people. Authorities at first said the accident appeared to have been caused by a technical malfunction that resulted in high-altitude decompression and that those aboard probably were dead before the crash. But autopsies on the bodies of 20 people showed they were alive when the plane went down. Officials said that whatever happened killed or disabled at least one of the pilots and sent the plane falling. Later in the week, a plane carrying vacationers reported engine problems and went down in Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board.

Library, Archives release Roberts papers

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the National Archives simultaneously released voluminous records of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' memos and other documents from his time as a member of the office of White House counsel during the Reagan administration. In one memo, Roberts showed sympathy for permitting prayer in public schools, and concluded in another that a group's memorial service for aborted fetuses was "an entirely appropriate means of calling attention to the abortion tragedy

Madonna suffers horse-riding accident

Madonna broke several bones in a horse-riding accident at her country home outside London, spoiling her 47th-birthday celebration. The pop star was hospitalized with three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand. Madonna was on a new horse she wasn't accustomed to riding when the accident happened.

Thousands stampede used-laptop sale

Shoppers rushed to buy $50 used laptop computers in Richmond, Va. Seventeen people were injured in the pushing and shoving. An elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and a little girl's stroller was crushed. More than 5,000 people showed up at Richmond International Raceway to buy one of the 1,000 used Apple iBooks that had been put up for sale by the school system.

Computer worms strike

Computers across the country were afflicted by new worms. They targeted corporate networks with the Windows 2000 operating system and arrived less than a week after Microsoft Corp. warned of the security flaw. The worms snarled computers at some of the nation's biggest media companies. Among those affected were CNN, ABC and The New York Times.

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